Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company

About This Book

Financial Times journalist Patrick McGee spent four years investigating one of the most consequential business relationships of our time. Through over 200 interviews with Apple executives, engineers, and Chinese officials, plus access to internal emails and unreported meetings, McGee reveals how Apple's pursuit of manufacturing efficiency in China created unexpected strategic vulnerabilities. The book shows how Apple's massive investments in Chinese manufacturing—training millions of workers, building sophisticated supply chains, and transferring advanced production techniques—inadvertently helped China develop its own technology capabilities. What began as a cost-cutting measure evolved into a complex relationship where Apple became dependent on Chinese manufacturing while China gained the skills and knowledge to compete with Apple. McGee introduces readers to the unsung characters who shaped this relationship: the Mormon missionary who built Apple's Chinese retail presence, the 'Gang of Eight' executives who managed Beijing relations, and the idealistic engineers whose hopes for worker conditions were crushed by operational demands. This is the story of how a company that once celebrated 'thinking different' learned to accommodate an authoritarian system that increasingly controls its destiny.

Key Insights

• Apple's China manufacturing created unintended technology transfer

• Cost savings came with strategic dependence and vulnerability

• Chinese manufacturing capabilities grew beyond simple assembly

• Corporate values often clash with authoritarian demands

• Supply chain decisions have geopolitical consequences

• Manufacturing expertise became a source of Chinese competitive advantage

Awards & Recognition

What Critics Are Saying

Product Details